The invention relates to a navigation aid for a motor vehicle having an autopilot. When the autopilot is activated the autopilot can autonomously longitudinally and transversely guide the motor vehicle, i.e., accelerate and decelerate (longitudinal guiding) and steer (transverse guiding) the motor vehicle without involvement of the driver. The motor vehicle also has a navigation system for determining a driving route to a predetermined destination. The invention also includes a server arrangement for the Internet, which also has a navigation system fore the motor vehicle. Finally the invention also includes, a method for operating a navigation system.
When driving a motor vehicle nowadays, the driver typically sits at the steering wheel and at least transversely guides the motor vehicle himself. This requires the driver to concentrate on the traffic. In order to make it easier for the driver to navigate to a destination, he can use a navigation aid, i.e., a navigation system, which determines the driving route for the driver based on navigation data, which describe the street system or traffic route network. The driving route is selected so that the driver reaches his destination as fast as possible, while ideally also saving fuel. In addition to the navigation data the navigation system can also use current traffic data to select a driving route that guides the driver around regions in which he would encounter a traffic jam or slow traffic. Traffic data describe the traffic flow in the road network, for example an actual average speed.
From DE 10 2009 048 954 A1 and DE 10 2010 038 454 A1 motor vehicles with autopilots are known. An autopilot makes it possible to have the motor vehicle guided by the autopilot in certain situations for example in a traffic jam or in the case of slow traffic, i.e., to quasi have the motor vehicle drive itself. The driver in this case does not even have to monitor the automatically driving the car. He can use this time for example to write emails or to watch a movie. However, the driver is only able to activate the autopilot in the first place when the street traffic surrounding the motor vehicle allows the activation, i.e., when an activation condition for the autopilot is satisfied.
From DE 10 2009 019 702 A1 it is also known to inform the driver during a piloted drive when the autopilot recognizes that the vehicle can no longer be guided by the autopilot, because an activation condition for the autopilot is no longer satisfied. The reason for terminating a piloted drive, i.e., the deactivation of the autopilot, can for example be that a maximum speed up to which the autopilot is permitted to operate, is expected to be soon exceeded, for example at the tail end of the traffic jam.